What started this unsafe driving habit???

Probably that same fool instructor who told that one newbie on here if a car cuts you off at a RR crossing gently push the car out into the intersection... Better idea... don't stop on a track....
Originally Posted by Unclehams
I thought I was pretty clear in the laid out senario but let me make it real simple.

I was told in class that trucks have to always deal with people cutting in front of them. Should I see some tracks and judge that I have enough room to clear them and while doing so I get a car that cuts in front of me and stops.

My instructor said to gently push them out into the intersection if I can't pull to either side of them. He also mentioned stopping on the tracks is a serious NO NO and that 1 truck gets hit by a train at least X amout per X amount. I don't remember how often but it was a lot.

 

I think you said it right the first time!

 

No way! I never get things right the first time.

 

I was giving an broad example of how the poor driving skills of some of today's drivers came into being.

Twenty years ago, Schneider, JB Hunt and to a lesser extent, Werner, had very poor reputations as being "training companies". Most of their trucks were filled with people who had very little experience on the road. Consequently, if someone got their mirror knocked off at a truckstop, you could almost bet the culprit was driving an orange, tan or light blue truck.

Fast forward to today and two of those companies have done an about face. I'd say Schneider has more professional drivers on the road than just about any other company. And JB... you wouldn't have wanted to drive a tan truck 20 years ago--at least not without a bag over your head. Werner? I'm not so sure about.

The main point I was trying to get across was that if someone is trained poorly and has no common sense, and then they train someone with no common sense... and so on... and so on... the effects are exponential.

My absolute NUMBER ONE pet peeve is people who come down the ramp to get on the highway, and forget that their vehicle has a gas pedal. They expect that you'll move out of their way to let their VIP a$z on the big road. Yapping on the phone, reading the paper, oblivious to the fact that they are DRIVING. These people are the ones who were taught by idiots.

And some of them go on to drive trucks.

 

Going by the letter of the law you cannot enter the highway until you are going the minimum speed which is usually at least 40mph. So let them write a ticket, you'll win in court.

 

5 years ago wqhen the electronic logs were starting to be used I remember one company specificly werner having them doing this. They would be riding on the shoulder at about 10 MPH cause thats all the truck would do when they ran out of hours and then on occasion for some reason they would just go ahead and pull right out in front you you.... Never made sense to me why somebody with so little comon sense is even possesing a CDL let alone hired and driving an 80,000lbs rig.

I am currently taking a CDL course refresher and I am in this with a bunch of people who are getting there CDLs. Well most of the instructors have the common sense that is not so common out there but there is one who is the office guy and only the office guy who IMHO does not have it. A couple weeks ago he was ***CHING at my buddy who is taking it(Its a military paid for course) and said he was backing the truck up all wrong. He proceeded in telling him myself and one other student the proper way to back a tractor trailer up and when my buddy asked him if he could show us he said "No, Now Ryan how about you get up there and do it since your the expert and use to drive. (I'm Ryan) So I got up there and he would not let me do it my way, he had me do it his way step by step which I thought was awesome because by me doing it step by step I took out the 2 cones on the right side of the spot because he wanted me to only do it his way and did not care when I told him its to close on the right and I'm going to take out the 2 cones....

My other instructors are great and they dont teach the stupid rules like dont start downshifting until your on the off ramp, that would just be idiotic.

 

Must of been somebody else then. Not sure who it was but there truck was barley moving and they said it was because of the paperless logs.

 

Regarding downshifting: I am careful about when I choose to start downshifting for an exit. It all depends on the layout of the exit and who is tailgating me at the time I need to exit the freeway. I look behind me about a mile before my exit and if I think the vehicle is too close, I will start to slow down gradually and then turn my signal on about 1/4 mile ahead so the person behind me knows why I'm slowing down. Usually, they will pull into the next lane and pass me. Sometimes, the ....er.... driver (used lightly in this context) follows me onto the off ramp, still eating my tail wash. At this point, I am normally at a safe speed already. Sometimes that is not possible and they get what they ask for: a face-full of brake lights and a trailer they are suddenly closing in on awfully fast. If it is a big truck, often I will be cursed out at this particular juncture...to which I will respond that I gave more than ample warning of my intentions and I am not about to roll a truck to suit his or her purposes regardless of how many seconds it will cost them.

 

Maybe the system errored out and screwed up the ecm when it wasn't supposed to. Not like the office drones would know that it wasn't supposed to work that way or why it was a bad idea.